Online Newsletter of Roxbury Community College Library

February 2009

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH

· AFRICAN AMERICAN QUILT EXHIBIT. For the 3^rd year, Prof. Michelle Howard-Harrell of the Early Childhood Education program and her “quilting sisters” have loaned the library a new collection of African American quilts. These 26 exquisite works will be hanging above the stairwell at the library entrance until March 15. Be sure to come and see them. In addition to Michelle, the “quilting sisters” are Celeste Janey, Ijonetta R. Jones, Millie Maines, Cheryl Purnell and Hattie Talley.

· TIMELINE. For the 5^th year, the library-created Timeline of African American History is on display in the front windows. The election of Barack Obama as the 44^th president of the United States has been added for 2008 and puts the whole Timeline into a new and exciting perspective.

· To see the new RCC library website for African American History Month 2009, click right here. It includes pictures of all quilts and resources for study on African American topics. The website was designed by reference librarian Bill Hoag.

· has a February 7, 2009 article on the RCC library’s African American History displays this year. Click here to see. Thanks to Ted Thomas for making outreach to The Globe.

EVERY STUDENT HAS BEEN GIVEN $20.00!!!

Every RCC student has been given $20.00 in their new Printing Account—enough to print 200 free pages from library computers. In conjunction with the IT Department, the library unveiled the new self-service Pharos printing module in January. Students now sign up for computers using student ID number and PIN. When they release print jobs, 10 cents is deducted from their Printing Account balance per page. If they need to do more than 200 pages of printing for the semester, they may add to their Printing Account at the Business Office, Building 2, Room 213. The Pharos signup and printing module in the library is a prototype. If successful, there is a plan to extend it to other parts of the college.

JOHN UPDIKE, 1932-2009

Prolific American author, John Updike, died January 27 at the age of 76 from lung cancer. Updike is best known for the popular Rabbit series of novels and for an outstanding collection of literary awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes. David Updike, professor of English at RCC, is John Updike’s son. There is a small display of the works of John Updike near the library’s entrance, along with other information about him.

LIBRARY STATISTICS UP FOR 2008, BY MOST MEASURES

· Gate Count Highest In 15 Years

The gate count for the library topped 127,000 for 2008. Gate count is the measure of the number of people entering the library. This is the highest count since 1993 and second highest since mechanical gate counting was installed in 1990.

*2006 Gate counter not working correctly.

· Library Instruction Up 24%

Library instruction involves showing students how to find quality sources for class research projects. Instruction also includes evaluation of information sources and development of other essential information literacy skills.

The number of students instructed went up 24 percent in one year and up 44 percent since 2005. This increase is the direct result of additional professional librarians.

· Library Database Searches Up 40%.

Among the numerous skills that students learn in library instruction sessions is the ability to find quality online articles in library databases. The number of online searches for these articles went up an amazing 40 percent in one year. This is, for example, nearly 2.7 times as many database searches as 2005.

Database searches, since October 2001, for 12-month periods prior to the months below

· Circulation Up 19%

The year 2008 posted a 19 percent increase in the borrowing of books and videos over 2007 and the highest figure in at least seven years, 85 percent higher than 2002. .

· Reference Questions Stable

The number of reference question answered was about even, up about 1 percent. The number of reference questions answered has gone up sharply over the last few years. To emphasize to students that a professional reference librarian is on duty most hours to help them, an 11-foot long reference desk was installed near the entrance in 2008. This replaced a regular 5-foot long desk.

· Big Increase in Use of Online Research Guides

In September 2007, library professional staff started creating Online Research Guides to supplement instruction sessions. These proved very popular with faculty and students and were referred to 2,466 times for the remainder of that year. During 2008, access to the resource guides exploded to 16,209. The library staff at University of Massachusetts Boston taught the RCC library staff how to create the resource guides in a wiki environment. In 2008 they gave feedback that the 44 RCC guides were particularly well designed. To take a look at them, go to http://www.rcc.mass.edu/Lib/ and select Research Guides.

· Interlibrary Borrowing Down

After the RCC library joined the Metro Boston Library Network (MBLN) in 2003, interlibrary borrowing increased explosively. However, in 2008, it was down significantly owing to computer problems for several months between RCC and the Boston Public Library which services the MBLN. This problem has now been fixed and interlibrary borrowing is back on track.

To build a better college library and provide superior customer service, we need your comments. Send both praises and gripes to mlawrence@rcc.mass.edu.

If you missed earlier issues of Welcome to the Library, click on “Read the Library’s newsletter” on the library website http://www.rcc.mass.edu/lib.

Welcome to the Library, published by Roxbury Community College Library, Roxbury Crossing, MA

Mark Lawrence, Library Director